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Diego Pavia Returns to Live Work, Vanderbilt Takes The Field Healthier in Wednesday Fall Practice; Takeaways
Diego Pavia returned to the practice field on Wednesday after missing Saturday's scrimmage. Mark Zaleski, Imagn

Diego Pavia Returns to Live Work, Vanderbilt Takes The Field Healthier in Wednesday Fall Practice; Takeaways

Originally posted on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI
By Joey Dwyer  |  Last updated Aug 20, 2025 1:12 PM ET

Nashville–Vanderbilt took the field on Wednesday after a couple days of hiatus that appeared to be necessary as a result of the Commodores’ abundance of players off to the side throughout its Saturday scrimmage. 

Wednesday morning appeared to show a fresher, more intense Vanderbilt team than the last time it took the field.

Here’s some takeaways and injury updates from Vanderbilt’s practice on its first day of school.

Diego Pavia, Cole Spence, Isaia Glass and Martel Hight work back in

Perhaps Vanderbilt’s most significant developments coming out of its Tuesday off day are the returns of a few of its key pieces.

Pavia had some hamstring issues last week that kept him off to the side at times. Vanderbilt was cautious with him by putting him off to the side during a few consecutive practices as well as Saturday’s scrimmage, but he was back to work on Wednesday morning. 

There was never expected to be a significant absence for the Vanderbilt quarterback, but he’s officially back to work 10 days before Vanderbilt faces off against Charleston Southern. 

Spence had been off to the side in all of Vanderbilt’s early-camp practices, but his quad injury appears to be subsiding as he ramps up his practice workload. Vanderbilt hasn’t been all that concerned with Spence’s health and hasn’t rushed him back, but it appears as if he’ll have a significant ramp-up period ahead of Vanderbilt’s opener. 

Isaia Glass, Jordan White, AJ Newberry, Trent Hudson, Martel Hight and Randon Fontenette all appear to be ramping up as well. 

Hight has perhaps the most valuable practice reps left to take of anyone on the roster. Vanderbilt appears to be more willing to allow him to take and initiate contact at this stage of his recovery from concussion protocol. That could be valuable for the Vanderbilt three-way standout as he looks to make a significant impact on each side of the ball in week one.   

Still health to improve

Eli Stowers, Brycen Coleman, Jordan Matthews, Bryce Henderson, Jamison Curtis, Glenn Seabrooks, Chase Gillespie, Jeremy St. Hilaire, Joshua Singh, Mason Nelson and Nikhil Jefferson were still off to the side on Wednesday. 

It appears as if Vanderbilt will wait until next week to fully ramp up Stowers and Seabrooks as it hopes to have them for its opener against Charleston Southern. The rest of its absences have been repetitive, but don’t appear to be all that concerning. 

Alabama transfer Keanu Koht has had a quiet camp, b ut appears to be more visible these days

Between Saturday’s scrimmage and Wednesday’s practice, Koht has appeared to be in the backfield more and has had more of an impact on practice than he’s had over the course of the fall. 

It still appears as if Koht is a two on Vanderbilt’s depth chart, but the tools that indicate he may be able to make some sort of impact. 

The Alabama transfer showed off plenty of tools in the spring and passes the eye test, but now it’s time for him to make a real impact. 

CJ Heard got his hands on a Diego Pavia pass today and appears to be the pick to start at one of the safety spots

Heard hasn’t had a particularly loud camp–probably partly due to not being able to come down and hit, which is his bread and butter–but had perhaps the play of the day in Wednesday’s live periods as Pavia tried to force something that led to Heard hauling in a pass. 

The Vanderbilt safety appears to be in line for a starting spot and is the proper mix of athletic and experienced that Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea is looking for from that relatively inexperienced room at this stage. 

There’s less pre-snap penalties these days, but Lea still appears to want better

Vanderbilt appears to be more disciplined on the line of scrimmage these days, which is a positive indicator. That’s easy to tell by the lack of yelling Jerry Kill appears to be doing. 

It still has to get in and out of periods more effectively, though. If it doesn’t it could continue to lose reps that will be valuable to it. 

Lea isn’t okay with that.


This article first appeared on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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